As Gunter guns for office with help of Pasco Sheriff posse, Weatherford mulls residency requirement

Bill Gunter touted his ties to the Pasco County Sheriff’s office on Monday in his bid to replace Mike Fasano in the State House District 36, which covers western New Port Richey.

He was endorsed Monday by Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco. Gunter, a presbyterian minister, happens to work at the sheriff’s office as a chaplain. Gunter’s main sponsor for office, Rep. Richard Corcoran, R-Trinity, also works there. Slated to become House Speaker in 2016, Corcoran is the outside counsel for the sheriff’s office, representing the office in employment and union matters.

Also in Gunter’s corner is Jeremiah Hawkes, the son of Taj Mahal judge Paul Hawkes (and, like Jeremiah, a Corcoran confidante) who also works for Nocco as the in-house counsel for the sheriff’s office. As if to leave no doubts where the Pasco Sheriff’s office stands on the issue of Gunter’s candidacy, Hawkes retweeted Nocco’s endorsement on Monday.

But don’t start icing the champagne for Gunter just yet. The primary election isn’t until Sept. 17 and at least one other Republican, Jim Mathieu, the county GOP chairman and former New Port Richey city attorney, says he’s running. The general election is Oct. 15 if the Democrats bother to field a candidate.

Ordinarily, that may not be that big of a deal. But this year, Republicans have raised a big stink about where lawmakers live, which just happened to embarrass several Democrats who have addresses in other districts that seem more like their actual homes.